July 8th, 2016 brings us 48-days away from the National Park Service Centennial. In this edition of the #CentennialCountdown we go back 48-years to 1968 when North Cascades and Redwood National Parks were created, also 1968 was a significant year in that it was the last year that Yosemite did a 'Firefall'.

North Cascades National Park is an absolute beauty. It gets incredible amounts of snow and is also right next to Ross Lake National Recreation Area, which was also established in 1968

Redwoods National Park is one of great sadness, for me. The Save-The-Redwoods League was founded in 1918 to preserve old growth forest. They helped create Prairie Creek, Del Norte Coast, and, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Parks. It wasn't until 1968 that the national park was created after 90% of the Redwoods had been forested.

The Yosemite 'Firefall' began in 1872 and lasted nearly 100-years until 1968 when the National Park Service cancelled the spectacle, because it was not a natural event and because all of the spectators were trampling the meadows. Below is a short video of the spectacle.